Teddy Bears Fly, But Bruins Fall to Wings

AUSTIN, MN – Cole Lawrence scored his 2nd NAHL goal in as many days to send teddy bears flying, but a three goal third period lifted the Aberdeen Wings to a 6-2 win over the Bruins at Riverside Arena on Saturday night.

The Wings got going early, scoring their first shorthanded goal of the year at 1:25 of the first as Carter Roo swept in a Jake Kucharski rebound for a 1-0 Wings lead that they took into the intermission.

Another early goal in the 2nd, make it 2-0 Wings when Colin Raver put a deke on Kucharski and slid it under his sprawling pad at 1:32. Just over a minute later, Lawrence put the Bruins on the board, capitalizing on a tenacious forecheck by linemates Liam Thrawl and John Wojciechowski and scoring his 2nd goal in as many games. With under three minutes remaining, the Bruins got even, when Justin Misiak caught AJ Drobot replacing Jan Stefka who had stepped out of the penalty box and Drobot scored on a breakway to tie the game at two. Less than a minute later, Aberdeen’s Riley Murphy put the Wings back ahead, banking a puck in from under the goal line and making a 3-2 lead through 40 minutes.

Goals by Kevin Fitzgerald, Trey Bagwell, and Raver chased Kucharski from the net in the 3rd, and put the Bruins in to deep a hole to climb out of. Forbes Ploszaj was the winning goaltender, making 17 saves on 19 shots. The Bruins play three games in three nights this week, starting Thursday in La Crosse against the Coulee Region Chill at 7:00 PM.